Getting the Torque Just Right Could Save Millions for Aerospace Companies

GE Aviation loses millions of dollars each year to errors made at key points during the assembly and overhaul of its engines. The costs show up in lost productivity, delays in testing, delays in customer deliveries, and the man-hours required to troubleshoot and correct faults. If errors arenʼt detected until after the engines are sent to customers, the repair costs exponentially increase.

B-nuts are one such key manufacturing point. They play a critical role in aircraft engine fluid lines and hoses, providing a sturdy, reliable seal―but only if tightened and torqued properly. If not torqued properly, there will be a need for a maintenance do-over, cancelled flight, or even an in-flight shut down.

GE Aviation initiated a deployment of AR that combined three technologies: Skylight from Upskill, Glass Enterprise Edition smart glasses, and a Wi-Fi-enabled Atlas-Copco Saltus MWR-85TA torque wrench.

Using Skylight on Glass, mechanics receive step-by-step guided instructions and images directly within their line of sight while performing different maintenance tasks. As the mechanics move through standard procedures and come to a step where they need to apply the torque wrench, Skylight alerts them through the smart glasses and then verifies the correct value in real-time before the mechanic can move on.

• [Efficiency Improvement - Productivity]
  With Skylight, instructions are now provided via the smart glasses. So are guided videos, animations, and images―all configured and accessible at any time for the worker. No stopping, no walking up and down ladders, less risk of injury. Workers can even turn on their camera and call engineers or other support team members for "see what I see" assistance with difficult steps.
• [Efficiency Improvement - Quality Assurance]
  As each nut is finished, Skylight automatically records the final correct torque value. For further documentation, Skylight prompts the mechanic to take a photo of each installed B-nut for historical quality purposes before proceeding to the next step in the procedure.

• On average, across all mechanics studied, the efficiency improvements were between 8 - 11%.

   

• 60% of the participants indicated that they preferred using the wearable technology to the traditional methods.

• 85% of the mechanics agreed to the statements, “I believe that using this system will reduce manufacturing errors,” and, “I thought the system was easy to use.”